completion statement

The purpose of my sabbatical leave was to create an Oral History of my own in order to have a concrete example for my students as they embark on their own creation of an Oral History project.  The focus of my Oral History was the women in my family whom all had experienced a bombing on July 7, 1943 that killed several members of their family.  As the project progressed, I was introduced to other women whom all had their own personal stories and experiences of WWII.  I decided to add some of these women’s stories and the project shifted slightly without losing its initial focus or its integrity but instead adding a tremendous amount to the overall project.  The project became more multi-dimensional, making it accessible to, not only, the Italian program but to other languages and subject matters—the project can be utilized cross-divisionally.
 
These women’s experiences and stories were collected and designed into videos that were then uploaded to a website I specifically created for the project.  Part of my purpose for the sabbatical leave was to interview Professor Alessandro Portelli, who is a well-known Italian Oral Historian.  His interview would serve as an ‘expert’ voice and guide in regards to how one would go about in creating their own Oral History.  I accomplished this purpose when I met Professor Portelli in Rome, Italy and created a video with his interview under the “Lesson Plan” tab of the website I created:  www.thestoryofsilence.com
 
I then wrote and designed a lesson plan using the questions asked of me when I initially applied for the sabbatical that were given to me by OPRFHS.  Using those questions as a template seemed appropriate as I slightly changed the verbiage to fit the nature of the Oral History project and added some questions of my own in order to provide some guided focus for students as they begin their own projects.  The lesson plans also have Illinois and National Standards that this project would meet and achieve.  A resource page was also created in providing resources to teachers and students that implement this type of project in their own class curriculums.  My hope is to continue adding more interviews and lessons to the website and broadening the subject outside of just WWII and making it into a site that all types of stories would be shared and utilized as teaching and learning tools.
 
Exploring the website can provide further information and example to the overall completion statement.